Work Text:
“Jihoon-ssi,” Soonyoung is whining the moment he steps in the door. “It is too early in the morning to be alive! I need caffeine! I need a–”
Jihoon rolls his eyes and carefully slides the takeaway cup he’s been working on across the counter. “Double-shot latte with hazelnut syrup, topped with cinnamon powder,” he announces, jerking his chin at the drink. “5,500 won.”
Soonyoung looks close to tears. “Jihoon-ssi!” he cries, approaching the counter with gratitude dripping from every pore. “You even drew a tiger on top!!”
“I poured cinnamon powder over a stencil, that’s hardly any effort,” Jihoon grumbles, feeling his ears go hot. Of course, he drew the stencil and cut it out last night, but Soonyoung doesn’t need to know that.
“Still!” Soonyoung’s joy is unshakeable as he counts out money from his wallet. “And it’s a different tiger than usual! Jihoon-ssi, just admit you love me.”
Jihoon snorts, ignoring the thump in his chest. “I love when you buy my coffee and get out of my shop within five minutes so I don’t have to listen to your whining,” he retorts, ringing up Soonyoung’s order. “Here’s your receipt, now get out of here before you’re late for class.”
Soonyoung fake-swoons. “Aww, you even know I have a class in–” He glances at the clock behind Jihoon and his eyes go comically wide as he yelps. “Five minutes! I gotta go, thanks again!”
He rushes out the door like a whirlwind, nearly knocking over Jihoon’s chalkboard sign outside.
Jihoon heaves a sigh. Just a few minutes with the guy, and he’s already exhausted.
Jeonghan pokes his head out of the back room, wearing that sly, shit-eating grin that Jihoon absolutely hates. “Another new tiger?” he drawls, slow and smug like the slimy, slimy bastard he is. “That makes it, what, eight designs now? All for one special customer–”
Jihoon balls up his tea towel and launches it at Jeonghan’s head with all the force and accuracy of a man who pitched for his school baseball team six years in a row, and can’t help the evil grin that spreads across his face when Jeonghan yelps and falls backward onto his ass.
---
Jihoon does not have a crush. He doesn’t. No matter what Jeonghan says.
“I think he likes you back,” Seungkwan tells Jihoon, grinning around the straw of his iced Americano from where he’s sitting at the counter, one leg crossed primly over the other. “My friend Chan says he gets this dopey look on his face every time he shows up to dance practice holding a cup from Woozi’s Room.”
“Why should I care?” Jihoon snaps, giving him his best death glare. “What are you even still doing here, your shift ended half an hour ago. Don’t you have anything better to do?”
“Nothing is more important to our Seungkwannie than ogling cute boys,” Jeonghan interjects, pinching Seungkwan’s cheek. Seungkwan scowls, but doesn’t bat Jeonghan’s hands away because everybody knows denying Jeonghan anything is just asking for his wrath. “But he does have a point, Jihoon. How long are you going to keep trying to flirt with this guy via latte art tigers?”
“How is it flirting to draw crap on some guy’s lattes, that is literally my job,” Jihoon nearly yells, throwing his hands up with exasperation.
“You did painstakingly design seven different latte art tigers just for him, hyung,” Seungkwan points out.
“Eight actually, as of this morning,” Jeonghan corrects gleefully.
“Oh!” says Seungkwan, turning meaningfully wide, mischievous eyes on Jihoon. “Well then!”
Jihoon grits his teeth. “So? I’m doing my job. That’s more than I can say for some people.” He gives Jeonghan the stink-eye.
“Nobody’s at the register, we have time to chat,” Jeonghan says, waving a hand dismissively, which of course is the exact moment the bell above the front door gives a little jingle as two teenaged girls come into the store.
Jihoon smiles sweetly at Jeonghan.
Jeonghan rolls his eyes, but turns to take the girls’ orders anyway.
---
Jihoon’s just finished putting a final flourish on a unicorn for a little girl’s hot chocolate when Soonyoung comes up to his bench.
“Yes?” Jihoon asks, doing his best to ignore the suggestive eyebrow-waggle Seungkwan tosses him behind Soonyoung’s back as he takes the hot chocolate away to serve.
“I have a special request,” Soonyoung says, in a low, uncharacteristically solemn voice. “I came with a friend today, the tall one in the back corner.”
Jihoon peeks past his shoulder to look. True enough, a tall, dark-haired and really quite handsome man is sitting in the booth near the window, a pair of round glasses perched on his nose as he stares out the window with a morose look on his face, chin resting in his hand. It’s like a scene from a drama. Jihoon can already see a couple of girls on the street outside turning to look at him with giggles behind their hands.
“Is he a model?” Jihoon asks, making a mental note to place all their beautiful customers in the window seats from now on, because hey, free marketing.
“What? No, he’s an economics student,” Soonyoung says, frowning. “Anyway, he’s been feeling really down lately– I think he misses his family pet cat, he’s been sighing every time he sees a stray out on the street. Do you think you could draw a cat on his latte?”
Jihoon is honestly surprised at how sweet a gesture this is. Not that he thought Soonyoung was, like, a bad friend, but the guy has always seemed a little… oblivious. “Of course,” Jihoon tells him. “Send me a picture of his cat, I’ll draw it for him.”
Soonyoung’s eyes widen. “Really? Oh my god, that would be amazing. What’s your number?”
Jihoon gives it to him, and shortly after he gets a message of a calico cat with a perfect splotch of black fur under her nose like a mustache.
“Her name is Miyu,” Soonyoung tells him, with a wide, brilliant smile that shows his slightly-too-big front teeth.
“Cute,” Jihoon says automatically, and panics when he hears Jeonghan choking back a laugh behind him. “Um, the cat, I mean.”
“Right?” Soonyoung agrees enthusiastically. “Anyway, I’d better get back before my friend starts getting suspicious. Thanks so much for this, Jihoon-ssi!”
Soonyoung bounds back to his friend, all bright energy and sunny charm. Jihoon sighs, hanging his head as he wills away the burning in his ears.
“Aw, cute,” Jeonghan cooes mockingly, and this time he’s just barely able to dodge the napkin Jihoon flings his way.
---
Soonyoung starts texting Jihoon.
At first it’s normal work stuff, like Jihoon-ssi, good morning! Stopping by the café in about 20 mins, you open? or Jihoon-ssi, can you draw a tiger cub like this one on my latte today? That’s fine, Jihoon gets texts like these from his other regulars too, he knows how to deal with these.
What he doesn’t know how to deal with is when Soonyoung sends him a photo of a tiny white kitten with the caption, This lil guy reminded me of you!!
Jihoon freezes when he sees it, because he really should have made clear to Soonyoung that this number is for the communal work phone they keep for orders via text. He takes a moment to thank every god in existence that Jihoon’s working today, and is thus the one holding the phone, because if literally any of his staff had seen that message, he would probably die of mortification.
That looks nothing like me, Jihoon texts back, after a quick glance to make sure Seungkwan is busy making a rather complicated frappe.
Does too!! Look how fluffy and angry and adorable he is!!!
Jihoon takes a very calm, measured breath, and does not have any reaction whatsoever to being called adorable by a customer he most certainly does not have a crush on, not at all.
Okay. Alright. First things first, he has to get this out of the way before Seungkwan notices anything and starts hounding him like the annoying bastard he is. Quickly as he can while still seeming casual, he taps out his personal mobile number and sends it to Soonyoung.
??? Soonyoung sends him.
That’s my personal number. Stop texting this one, we only use it for orders, Jihoon tells him, and immediately starts deleting the incriminating messages from the chat.
Oh! Okk, Soonyoung types back after a minute. Jihoon deletes that as well, just as his personal phone buzzes in his pocket.
“Got a new KaTalk order, hyung?” Seungkwan asks, apparently having already finished and served his frappe.
“Nah,” Jihoon says casually, putting the work phone down with carefully measured disinterest. “Just some spam.”
Seungkwan falls for it, turning away with a hum.
Jihoon nearly sighs with relief at his success, and does not think about how he just gave his personal mobile number to the guy he most certainly does not have a crush on.
---
They text, after that. Or, well, mostly Soonyoung texts Jihoon, always random stuff that catches his eye, seemingly without any rhyme or reason. Jihoon humours him, because, well, it’s polite, and also sometimes the things he says are just so weird or eccentric or just plain wrong that Jihoon literally cannot stop himself from firing a sarcastic reply back. Jihoon’s sharp tongue (or fingers?) don’t seem to faze Soonyoung at all; he takes it in stride, sometimes going as far as to argue a completely illogical point with a jovial cheeriness that drives Jihoon crazy.
He must be doing this on purpose, Jihoon thinks to himself one morning, suppressing the urge to shake his head in disbelief. Soonyoung is messing with him, surely.
You cannot tell me you truly believe that all rabbits have perfect vision because they eat so many carrots, Jihoon texts him back furiously, because no. There is no way. This has to be a joke.
Instead of texting back at that very moment and assuring Jihoon that he is not, in fact, serious, Soonyoung elects to stroll into Woozi’s Room a full half an hour later and say, with a mischievous grin, “Carrots are a great source of vitamin A!”
Seungkwan looks bewildered. “Okay, did you want some carrot juice–?” he starts to say, but Jihoon can’t help his exasperated cry of, “For the love of god!”, effectively cutting him off.
Soonyoung’s grin widens. “Have you ever seen a rabbit wearing glasses? Boom, I rest my case.”
He is definitely messing with Jihoon. Jihoon gives him the nastiest death glare he can muster at 8 goddamn o’clock in the morning. Soonyoung just beams at him gleefully. Jihoon shakes his head and decides it’s too early to be dealing with this bullshit. He presses Soonyoung’s usual order into his hands and shooes him away before he can spew any more infuriating bullshit.
“You’re just mad because you don’t a good comeback,” Soonyoung laughs over his shoulder at Jihoon, though he lets himself be manhandled out the door. “Thanks, Jihoon-ssi! Put this one on my tab, I’ll swing by and pay during lunch. Save me some quiche too?”
Jihoon waves him off impatiently and lets the door swing shut behind him with a huff.
Seungkwan shakes his head, fixing Jihoon with an unimpressed look. “Why can’t y’all flirt like regular people?”
“Shut the fuck up.”
---
Soonyoung starts making a habit of starting discussions over text and seamlessly picking them up with Jihoon in person when he comes in. This, of course, means Jeonghan and Seungkwan are constantly shooting him smug, knowing looks, which is annoying as hell– Jihoon’s threats to dock their pay stopped working after a couple of weeks– but not impossible to ignore.
No matter what his employees try to imply, it’s not a crime to play nice with the regulars, especially ones like Soonyoung who constantly introduce new groups of friends to Woozi’s Room. It’s honestly great for business. Soonyoung’s not-a-model cat-lover friend with the glasses (Wonwoo, Jihoon thinks his name is?) comes in on his own now. Soonyoung commandeers one of the booths against the window every Wednesday for what appears to be a study group. He even brings his sister once, when she’s in town for work, and apparently she’s, like, a micro-influencer or something, because Seungkwan comes in the next day waving his Instagram feed in Jihoon’s face in a flailing frenzy and the café sees a literal 30% increase in patronage.
“Do you see how important a strong social media presence is in the current consumer climate?” Seungkwan demands, gesturing emphatically at the droves of people in the café. “When was the last time business was this good?”
Begrudgingly, Jihoon has to admit he has a point. For the first time since Jihoon opened Woozi’s Room three years ago, there is literally a whole line of people outside waiting to be seated. Jihoon’s even had to pull in his other part-timer Mingyu to help out today, because he, Jeonghan and Seungkwan were struggling to keep up.
“No offense, but Woozi’s Room’s Instagram is frankly pathetic,” Seungkwan continues mercilessly. “And I know it’s because you’re secretly a grandpa and don’t know how to cultivate a social media following, but please, hyung, if you won’t learn how to do it, at least let me handle the account. Look at what we could have if you just embraced modernity–”
Jihoon holds up a hand to shut him up. “Alright, kid, I get it,” he sighs. “The work phone is signed into the account, knock yourself out.”
“He sees reason!” Seungkwan crows triumphantly, quite unnecessarily in Jihoon’s opinion. “I won’t let you down, hyung!”
“If you post anything stupid I’ll kick your ass,” Jihoon threatens half-heartedly.
“I won’t! And you wouldn’t, you love my ass too much,” Seungkwan retorts, then flushes when he realises what he’s just said. His eyes dart to the handsome second-year student he’s been shyly flirting with all week, who is sitting at the high counter near Jihoon’s latte-art station and has probably heard every word of this exchange, considering his amused glance at them. Flustered, Seungkwan hastily corrects himself. “Not like– I mean, just– you love me, is what I mean, in a completely familial, little brother-y way. That’s what I– you only love my ass inasmuch as it’s a part of me, your favourite dongsaeng. Obviously.”
“Obviously,” Jihoon agrees, highly amused.
“Yes. Yes, it was obvious,” Seungkwan laughs nervously, glancing at the second-year. Hansol, Jihoon thinks his name is.
“It is a good ass,” Probably-Hansol quips with a grin, and damn Jihoon has to respect his game. The guy saw a chance and he took it, and judging from the way Seungkwan’s face goes even pinker, it’s paid off.
“I– yes, well. You could say it’s one of my best assets,” Seungkwan shoots back, grinning.
Hansol laughs, clearly charmed, and wow Jihoon is officially third-wheeling this interaction. “Alright, that’s enough, you kids can continue to flirt after Seungkwan’s shift is over,” he says, rolling his eyes, though he can’t quite bring himself to be stern. “Here, take these lattes to Table 5 and get your asset outta here.”
Seungkwan winks at Hansol. “Sure, boss,” he chirps, and flounces off in a disgustingly chipper mood.
Hansol smiles after him, then ducks a half-bow at Jihoon before turning back to his laptop.
Seungkwan’s boy complimented his ass and then they eyefucked right in front of my fucking salad, Jihoon texts Jeonghan, so that the spotlight will finally, finally be off Jihoon and his totally platonic relationship with Soonyoung.
Satisfied, Jihoon puts his phone down and goes back to work. It’s so busy today that he barely has time to breathe, and by the time he manages to check his phone again it’s dark out and Mingyu is wiping down the tables with a tired sigh.
No reply from Jeonghan, who’d rushed out the door two seconds after closing, ostensibly because of a ‘prior engagement’ with his little sister, but may well just be him itching to go home and crash after a long and crazy shift. There are a few texts from Soonyoung, which is not unusual– but when Jihoon reads them he has to blink to make sure he isn’t seeing things.
Omg u mean hansol?? Good for him he’s had a crush on seungkwannie since like two semesters ago!!! I mean he tried to say he just likes sk’s voice but hes an ass man and like objectively sk’s THICC
With a sense of dawning horror, Jihoon glances at the previous messages in their chat. True enough, the text Jihoon had thought he’d sent to Jeonghan had actually been sent to Soonyoung by mistake.
Jihoon lets his head drop into his hands, mortified. There hadn’t been anything– like, incriminating, or whatever, but he and Soonyoung don’t really have that kind of friendship. Soonyoung texts him random shit, Jihoon sells Soonyoung coffee, they go on with their separate lives. Are they even friends? It’s not like they ever hang out or even see each other outside of Woozi’s Room. They’re more like… acquaintances. Barely a step up from strangers, really.
So for Jihoon to text him out of the blue to gossip about one of his employees’ love lives…
“Ugh, kill me,” Jihoon groans.
“Not before payday, boss,” Mingyu quips, and Jihoon is too busy wallowing in his despair to even throw anything at him.
---
It’s not like Jihoon can just text Soonyoung back hey sorry thought this was my co-worker, didn’t mean to overshare about my part-timer’s love life haha, so he just texts back haha.
And then, in a minor panic because just haha feels kind of weird and rude, he ends up asking about how Soonyoung knows Hansol. Soonyoung tells him they were in the same tutorial group last year, which is weird because Soonyoung is a full two years Hansol’s senior, so naturally Jihoon asks about that. Soonyoung explains that he took some time off school after his first year because of some financial issues after his dad fell sick, so of course Jihoon has to ask after his father’s condition…
In summary, somehow Seungkwan flirting with a boy in Jihoon’s coffee shop has somehow led to Jihoon and Soonyoung actually becoming friends. Which is fine, it’s not a crime to make friends. Jihoon has lots of friends who are also customers. Granted, most of them were friends before they were customers, but still. Jeonghan can take his fucking eyebrow waggling elsewhere, it’s absolutely not a big deal.
---
Weeks later, Jihoon starts to realise that it maybe, kind of, could be a Big Deal.
It starts with finals season. Jihoon can tell finals are coming up from the way his customers start looking more and more wild-eyed and frantic, and it’s confirmed when Seungkwan requests to put in fewer shifts, dark circles under his eyes. Jihoon agrees and sends him home before the poor kid collapses.
Finals are coming up, the students are sinking into desperate study-mode, and Soonyoung stops texting.
It– doesn’t surprise Jihoon, not really. Soonyoung is a student, he knew that, so it makes sense that he’s busy studying for finals too. It’s just that… well, they’d fallen into a bit of a routine. They exchange texts when Soonyoung wakes up– he’s a surprisingly early riser most days– until he bustles in an hour or so later for his usual coffee. If he has class he heads out, but will come back for pastries later; if he doesn’t, he’ll park himself across the counter from where Jihoon does his latte art and they’ll chat for a while.
Now that finals are looming, Soonyoung has all but vanished. Jihoon is a little surprised the first Soonyoung-less morning– not disappointed, shut up Jeonghan-hyung– but figures Soonyoung couldn’t make it. Plans change, it’s whatever. He doesn’t even think about texting Soonyoung, and definitely doesn’t check his phone every hour to see if he’s gotten any texts.
Soonyoung doesn’t text, and after three days of radio silence Jihoon can’t deny he’s a little concerned. Hey you alive? he texts Soonyoung, aiming for nonchalant. Didn’t think you could survive without caffeine.
Soonyoung doesn’t reply until late in the night. Jihoon’s already sprawled in bed mindlessly scrolling through his Insta feed when he gets the notification and his heart skips a beat. The fuck, behave, Jihoon thinks furiously at his stupid pulse as he opens up his chat with Soonyoung.
Soonyoung’s sent a photo of himself holding a can of Monster with a sheepish smile. Getting my caffeine from other sources for the time being, he’s written as a caption.
Geez, energy drinks? Jihoon’s eyes flick over Soonyoung’s face. He looks tired, his eyes a little red and his smile looking dimmer than usual. Is he getting enough rest? He seems geared up for a long night in the library, judging from the mess of paper and books spread out on the table behind him.
Hope you’re taking care of yourself, Jihoon types, and then immediately deletes because what the fuck that makes it sound like he’s worried or something.
Wow, cheating on me with another source of caffeine, he starts to type next but frantically deletes it when he comes to his senses because what the fuck, what is this flirty shit, it must be because it’s late and he’s tired, he’s clearly lost his mind.
Coffee has more caffeine than energy drinks, you know, is what he ends up sending, a full fifteen minutes after Soonyoung’s text.
But your café is all the way on the other side of campus and there’s a convenience store right next to the library, is what Soonyoung texts back, barely a minute later.
Exercise is good for you, Jihoon replies, then quietly panics because does that sound needy? Like he’s inviting Soonyoung to come over? Fuck, what if Soonyoung thinks he misses him or something?
Ok I’m going to bed goodnight, he ends up texting frantically just to escape the conversation, then puts his phone on do not disturb, puts it face down on the farthest side of his bedside table, and rolls over to bury his face into his duvet with a groan.
Fuck, he really might have a crush.
---
Jihoon somehow manages to get some sleep in the wake of this earth-shattering revelation, so he’s mostly able to be normal in the café the next day. Well, normal enough that his employees don’t say a word to him about it, which is good enough for Jihoon, he is taking wins where he can get them.
As usual, 9am comes and goes without Soonyoung bustling in with his bright smile and round cheeks. Jihoon is not surprised, but he can admit to himself (privately, in a quiet corner in the very back of his mind) that he is the tiniest bit disappointed. He tucks that away quickly, because he is an adult and he has a job to do and there’ll be time enough to sort out his love life (ugh) once he’s off the clock.
Soonyoung doesn’t show up but Wonwoo does, a couple of hours later. Jihoon nods him a greeting, then turns back to the Pororo he’s in the middle of painting on the foam top of a little boy’s hot chocolate.
“How are finals going?” he hears Jeonghan ask conversationally as he takes Wonwoo’s order. “Haven’t seen you or Soonyoung around in a while.”
“It’s going to be a hectic next few weeks, our exam schedule is pretty crazy,” Wonwoo tells him, looking tired but considerably more put-together than Soonyoung had looked in last night’s photo. “I’m about to go meet Soonyoung in the library, I think he’s moved in there permanently.”
Jeonghan hums sympathetically. Jihoon sends Mingyu off with the Pororo hot chocolate, then gets up to stop Jeonghan from ringing Wonwoo up. “On the house,” he tells Wonwoo gruffly, and makes sure Jeonghan comps it before moving to make the order, waving away Wonwoo’s surprised thanks.
“What’s this?” Wonwoo asks when Jihoon sets two to-go coffee cups in front of him.
“For the both of you,” Jihoon says curtly. “Open the lids before you drink them, okay? Now shoo, don’t hold up the line.”
The line is literally one person who is still in the middle of rattling off a very complicated order, but Wonwoo is kind enough not to call him out on it and leaves with a grateful bow.
Soonyoung texts him later, Thanks, I really needed this, and the warmth that spreads in Jihoon’s chest stays with him for the rest of the day.
---
Three weeks later, Jihoon is putting the final flourishes on a latte art portrait of the ugliest and most adorable pet pug he has ever seen for its enthusiastic owner when Soonyoung barges into Woozi’s Room with wild eyes and stalks right up to Jihoon’s counter.
“Um, hello?” Jihoon croaks, waving Jeonghan over to serve the cappuccino before he startles and accidentally ruins the poor pug. “You good?”
“I just finished my last exam for the year,” Soonyoung announces, still staring very intensely at Jihoon.
“Okay?” Jihoon says, bewildered. “So you want cake with your coffee to celebrate, or–”
“I want to buy you dinner,” Soonyoung says decisively.
Jihoon’s mind literally goes blank. “Uh,” is all he can say, staring at Soonyoung with utter shock.
Soonyoung’s brain seems to catch up with his mouth. “Um, if you want to, that is,” he starts to say, looking more and more nervous by the second. “I– Not right now, necessarily, since you’re working, and the café’s still open for like another two hours, so you can’t just up and leave, but uh–”
“Yes,” Jihoon hears himself say. “Yes, let’s, um. I would. Like that.”
Soonyoung blinks at him, looking just as dazed as Jihoon feels, and a tiny delighted smile starts to spread over Soonyoung’s face. “Great,” he says breathlessly.
“Great,” Jihoon breathes back, unable to tear his eyes away from Soonyoung’s.
“Great,” says Jeonghan as he pulls Jihoon to his feet and shoves his coat at him. “I’ve got it handled here, you kids go have fun.” In a rare show of strength, Jeonghan puts a hand on both Jihoon and Soonyoung’s shoulder and firmly pushes them out of the café, ignoring Jihoon’s protests.
“I should have him fired for the sheer disrespect,” Jihoon grumbles, shoving his arms into his coat with a huff.
“But if you fire him, who’s going to watch the café when we go on dates?” Soonyoung asks with a cheeky grin, and Jihoon’s heart skips a beat. Has he always been such a flirt?
“Bold of you to assume there’ll be more than one date,” Jihoon teases, because two can play at that game.
Soonyoung beams back at him. “One way to find out,” he says, and leads the way to dinner.
---
BONUS
---
The week before finals finds Soonyoung buried in a nest of books and notes and snack wrappers, straining to keep his eyes open while he desperately tries to cram all the information from Wonwoo’s notes from first semester into his brain. He has been holed up in this particular group-study room in the library for days. There are literally pillows and a blanket in the corner. Soonyoung is slowly going stir-crazy, but he is not going to fail these exams even if it kills him.
“How’s it going?” Wonwoo asks, suddenly sinking into the seat across from Soonyoung, and it’s all Soonyoung can do to look up and blink at him blearily, because he sure as hell didn’t hear Wonwoo come into the room, so it is entirely possible that this Wonwoo is a hallucination, a mere product of his library-induced delirium.
Wonwoo slides a cup of coffee across the table, and Soonyoung promptly decides that it doesn’t matter, as long as hallucination-Wonwoo keeps bringing him precious, precious caffeine. “I love you,” Soonyoung nearly sobs, cradling the blissfully hot coffee cup in his hands, pulling it close. “I love you so much, Jeon Wonwoo.”
“Okay,” Wonwoo says patiently, which is a sure sign that Soonyoung is in bad shape, because he never humours Soonyoung. “I got your usual. Open the lid before you drink it.”
“Why?”
Wonwoo shrugs, pulling his own books out of his backpack. “I don’t know, that’s what your barista said. He was really nice by the way, gave it to us on the house when I mentioned how crazy our finals schedules are.”
Soonyoung perks up at that, fatigue forgotten for the moment. “Oh,” he says dumbly, shocked and delighted in equal measures. Now that he’s paying attention, it’s obvious– the cup is from Woozi’s Room, and the slightly lopsided Soonyoung written on the side is clearly Jihoon’s hasty scrawl.
Heart suddenly racing, Soonyoung carefully removes the lid– and immediately feels a smile bloom on his face. There, staring up at him from his coffee cup, is a cartoon tiger, slumped and sighing on a table between a huge pile of books and a tiny, steaming cup of coffee. FIGHTING!! is written across the top, a little messy now because clearly Wonwoo hadn’t been very careful while bringing it over.
Oh, thinks Soonyoung, staring dumbly at his coffee as warmth spreads through his chest. It’s not a big deal, really, Jihoon probably draws variations of this for a ton of students around finals season, but.
“You okay, man?” Wonwoo asks, concerned, when Soonyoung does nothing but gape at his coffee for a solid two minutes.
“Yeah,” Soonyoung hears himself choke out. “Just… realised something.”
Wonwoo doesn’t seem convinced, but apparently decides it’s not worth fighting him on, because he just nods and turns his attention back to his notes.
Soonyoung sets his coffee down carefully. He spends precious minutes of study time figuring out the lighting and angle before snapping a photo of the cartoon tiger on his latte and texting it to Jihoon.
Thank you, I really needed this, he adds.
Knock ‘em dead, Jihoon texts back almost immediately, even though he’s probably in the middle of lunch rush at the café.
Soonyoung returns to his books with a grin on his face and a flutter in his heart.
Once finals are over, he is going to date the hell out of Lee Jihoon.